We are standing outside New York’s City Hall as we celebrate an incredible victory: today, the New York City Council adopted a powerful package of legislation which calls for the US to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and includes legal obligations for the city in terms of divestment, education, and policy on nuclear weapons!
The adoption of this legislation is a major milestone, achieved due to the advocacy of the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN) and its allies, who have campaigned tirelessly for its introduction and passage. Among the key components of the legislation:
• Resolution 976 calls upon the NYC Comptroller to instruct the $266 billion pension funds of public employees to divest from companies involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. This stands to impact approximately $475 million USD of public investments.
• Introduction 1621 establishes an advisory committee to educate the public and recommend policy on issues relating to nuclear disarmament.
• The resolution also reaffirms NYC as a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, supporting earlier City Council resolutions that prohibited the production, transport, storage, placement, and deployment of nuclear weapons within NYC.
• Finally, it also joins NYC to the ICAN Cities Appeal, calling on the United States to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
New York City has a long and complicated history with nuclear weapons – it was home to the Manhattan Project, where nuclear weapons began, but also home to the largest disarmament rally in the US, where nuclear weapons have been strongly resisted. New Yorkers like us are deeply committed to saving our city’s legacy and advancing global nuclear disarmament.
With this resolution, we are proud for New York to join other major cities around the world calling on their government to pursue nuclear disarmament by joining the TPNW. And we believe that this legislation will have a meaningful financial impact on the companies involved in producing and maintaining these weapons of mass destruction, as well as significant educational impact on generations of New Yorkers yet to come.
